50 Preferred Building Enclosure Evaluation Tools (Yes Fifty!)

Summary: This post provides a list of the building enclosure evaluation tools, equipment, and accessories we like to have available when performing enclosure evaluations. Please tell us in the comments if we missed some of your favorites.

The tools you ‘need’

Our research has suggested that 87.9% of Enclosurists are technically minded. Technically minded people tend to gravitate towards tools and technical novelties whose purchase may be justified by “I need it for work…”.

Sadly, there are genuinely very few tools Enclosurists need to perform our for work.

However, this has never stopped us from obtaining tools we felt would facilitate our work, even if facilitation meant intimidating a junior colleague or client with a fancy, complex-looking gadget (although we never do that).

To celebrate our ‘love of tool’, we decided to compile a list of the items we carry when performing an exterior enclosure evaluation.

The list is the result of a conversation in the office and items are listed in no particular order.

Did we leave something out?

I’m sure that we’ve left out (or perhaps haven’t yet discovered) some important tool, thereby exposing our inexperience and ignorance.

Should this be the case, please enlighten us by listing your must-have gizmo in the comments below.

On that note, read on and accessorize at your own risk (and expense)!

[We did not include links to online retailers for these items, but most of these items can be found at your local hardware store or on Amazon.com (please note this is an affiliate link meaning we get a small percentage of whatever you spend at Amazon at no cost to you).]

Fifty Preferred Building Enclosure Evaluation Tools (and Accessories)

1. Handheld Tape measures (25′): Traditional (and Digital) tape measures are useful in the unlikely event, you have to measure something.
2. Reel tape measure (200′): Useful in the unlikely event you have to measure something big.
3. Steel ruler and caliper: Useful in the unlikely event, you have to measure something small or oddly shaped.
4. Flashlight: Because I can’t see in the dark, and neither can you.
5. Penlight: Try fitting your 12″ Maglite in a wall cavity.
6. Binoculars: To see defects (and to identify the bird of prey before joining it on the roof).
7. Inspection mirror: So you don’t have to stick your head in a hole or crawl on your belly.
8. Crayons (Construction not Crayola) and caulk: To mark defects (or the approximate location of the hornets nest the client forgot to tell you about).
9. Pen, pencil, highlighters: To markup plans and details and to make notes (I promise, you will not remember, so write it down).
10. Safety glasses: Things can get messy, and eyes are good to have.
11. Safety vest: Be seen and be safe. Get a vest with pockets for all your pens and gadgets.
12. Hard hat: That brain was expensive, protect it.
13. Work boots: Because my feet are rusty, tetanus contaminated, nail finders.
14. Protective gloves: You entered the world with ten fingers, try leaving it in a similar fashion.
15. Rubber gloves (latex, nitrile, etc.): When they said the liquid flashing is ready for inspection, they didn’t mention applying it three minutes ago.
16. Thermal gloves, wool socks, and a warm winter hat: Do I need to explain this one?
17. Hand/foot warmers: Sometimes, gloves and socks are not enough. Don’t tough it out. Be comfortable.
18. 5′ Digital level (or longer): To determine the slope of a roof or walkway when eyeballing is not enough.
19. 1′ Digital level: Because your long level won’t fit in the 12″ x12″ test cut.
20. Bull’s eye surface level: Helpful little level to drop everywhere for quantitative comparisons.
21. Laser level: Not required but nice to have. Useful for interior use and because lasers are cool.
22. Laser pointer: To point things out to people (see the previous point).
23. Utility knife with extra blades: To cut things that need cuttin’.
24. Full body harness: Keeps you safe when working at heights (only if you put it on. Doesn’t do jack in the back of your car, so we say: “Doesn’t do Jack in the Back!”).
25. Lanyard for your harness: A harness without a lanyard is just a mean-looking corset.
26. Knee pads: “I’ll be careful with my new pants… I won’t get the knees stained like the others… I just quickly need to bend down and check this one thing… Dammit!” Also, my knee is a screw magnet.
27. Sunscreen: Solar radiation is a significant damage function, and not just for roofs.
28. Water bottle: Dehydration happens quickly. Fill it up with water or your liquid comfort of choice.
29. Lunch box with lunch and a selection of healthy snacks: Buying ‘lunch’ from a college vending machine gets old.
30. Clipboard: So the wind won’t blow away all those great sketches you spent hours making. We now have the technology to make clipboards for 11×17’s! (or create your own with hardboard, binder clips, and rubber bands).
31. Ipad or tablet: Get the case or holster with a carry strap, else just tuck it into your pants when climbing the ladder (or carry it in your teeth like the enclosure pirate you truly are!).
32. Backup battery for your phone and tablet: Long hours on a roof does a number on your battery. So does cold weather.
33. Painters tape (and duct tape): To label and stick things down or to repair your iPad after it fell out of your pants while climbing that ladder.
34. Toolbag with a strap or a good backpack: You need your hands to work and to hold on. “Don’t be a drag, put it in a bag”. (We just made that one up).
35. Rope: Learn from the roofers and hoist your toolbag up.
36. A digital camera with an appropriate zoom lens: Phones are tremendous but consider carrying a camera. One with a decent lens will get you close, even when you can’t.
37. Hammer: To hit things with.
38. Screwdriver set: To turn things with.
39. Prybar: To bend things with.
40. Awl: To poke things with.
41. Borescopes: Super helpful to see into holes smaller than your head (or to figure out what is wrong with your tooth). You can invest in a professional, heavy-duty expensive one (or buy the cheap yet fully functional one for your iPhone on Amazon).
42. Thermal camera or camera attachment for your phone: You have no excuse as an Enclosurist not to own some type of thermal imaging device. They are getting less expensive by the day (not considering inflation). Get one and use it.
43. Moisture meter: Since Enclosurists encounter moisture in buildings once in a while, it is handy to confirm whether things are wet.
44. Infrared thermometer: Enclosurists are in the business of hot and cold. Also great to see if the surface of the cat is warmer than the surface of the dog.
45. Smoke pencil: Helpful to identify drafts at windows and doors since Enclosurists encounter air movement in buildings once in a while.
46. Carabiners: For your equipment, not for your harness. I repeat, not for your harness.
47. Extra set of clothing: Climbing on a roof, entering a mechanical space, crawling in a crawlspace, eating in your car. All these Enclosurist activities have one thing in common. Do it often enough, and you will get dirty, usually, before meeting the client for the first time.
48. Dust mask: Bit of a moot point these days, but get a mask suitable for the application. Wear it often in areas where there is the presence of, or suspected presence of dust, fiberglass, asbestos, evidence of mice, rats, and such.
49. Raincoat: It never rains when you are on a roof, but just in case.
50. Hoodie: Keeps your head and neck warm while helping you blend in on-site. Make sure it is well worn, strategically stained, and slightly oversized to raise your construction cred (works for me until I open my mouth).